A Requiem For Winter

Try as I might to deny it, spring's coming. Tomorrow's the first day of the season, and with it, the winter is at an end. It's been warmer here in recent days, and beyond that, other sure signs of spring have cropped up. The ice is gone or going on the rivers, the ice on the Rideau Canal is breaking up, and the first shoots of new growth are coming up in the gardens here. Oh, and a few days back, the first of the Canada geese started their return into the area.

As much as I'd like to hope for the Great March Blizzard of 2012, it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

It's been a less then average sort of year. Down in Toronto, they barely had a winter. Of course, the media forecasters down in the City that Thinks It's The Center Of The Universe panic when there's ten centimetres of snow coming, and if there's twenty five centimetres coming, they'll cry out that it's the end of the world, oh my god, eat your dead if you have to, we're all going to die, blah blah blah.

Spineless cowards, the lot of them. (Global Television, I'm looking squarely at you yellow-bellied prats when I say that)

We didn't get the usual amount here in Eastern Ontario, and it wasn't as cold as it could have been. Mind you, I would have preferred minus thirty and, oh... four or five metres of snow over the winter. I know, I'm silly that way. It also costs me money. For those coming in late, I have to toss quarters in the cuss jar when I mention such lovely words as snow, blizzard, winter, cold, wind chill, frost, ice storm... The cuss jar's gotten filled up quite a bit. Of course, I've then used the contents to go for chocolate, which I would have been doing regardless, so...

Well, there's still hope. I remember one April day at the National Gallery here in Ottawa, looking out through the glass tower towards Parliament Hill, which was out of sight, hidden by a blinding snowstorm. Who knows? We could get lucky and have the Great April Blizzard of 2012, which hits all of North America...

And so, since winter seems to be on its way out, I thought I'd play around with one more image blog of winter today. Snow tends to be a good medium for sculptors to use, as you can see among this pack:

Here in Canada we tend to find our own ways to get through the winter. In Algonquin Park, there's a lake called Canoe Lake (I highly recommend a visit; it's a gorgeous spot). This time of year, it's still frozen over and quiet, but it's the subject of a betting pool of sorts (no, no money involved, just bragging rights). The question is what day the lake will be deemed free of ice and ready for going out on (you guessed it) the canoe. I've been putting in my own selection the last few years, though I have yet to pick the right one. Here's the Ice Out home page, in case you were wondering if I was pulling your leg. Yes, I know, it seems silly....

Canoe Lake, Algonquin

Now this is a proper winter....

There are, of course, plenty of pics out there featuring animals and winter...

Especially dogs...

And the feline overlords and masters of the universe....

And so it seems winter is at an end. More's the pity. Oh, well. I can take solace in the fact that here, snow has been recorded in pretty much every month but July, and there are still chances that we'll get some more snow in the weeks to come. And I can also look forward to the inevitable early winter we'll get come the fall. I'm thinking September 13th would be a nice time for the first snowfall of the latter half of the year, wouldn't you?

To those of you who think I'm nuts for loving winter, no doubt you're pleased now that spring has come. I'll be grieving my lost winter for awhile though. And dreaming of snowdrifts and blizzards and temperatures so cold that it cuts into the throat. Ah, lovely. Lovely!